Wellness Loft

 

There’s one night a week we never have to think about what’s for dinner. Every Sunday, without fail, it’s homemade pizza night — and honestly, it’s become so much more than just a meal.

Why Traditions Matter

We didn’t set out to create a “tradition.” It just sort of happened, and then we noticed how much we all looked forward to it — and that’s when we realized how important it actually is. Doing something together every single week creates consistency for our kids, and consistency is where the good memories live. It gives everyone something to look forward to, no matter what kind of week it’s been. It makes life easier for us as parents too — we already know what’s for dinner every Sunday, no decision fatigue, no last-minute scrambling. One less thing to think about, and one more thing to look forward to.

Why Pizza, Specifically

Pizza just works. Everybody loves it, and everybody can make it their own way — Emery likes hers one way, we like ours another, and nobody has to compromise. It’s hands-on and fun, the kind of activity that pulls the whole family into the kitchen instead of everyone doing their own thing. And there’s always good leftovers, which never hurts on a Monday.

What Goes On It

We keep it simple and real. The crust is homemade sourdough — and it’s not just tastier than anything store-bought, it’s better for you too. Store-bought crusts tend to run higher in calories and lower in everything that actually matters nutritionally; homemade sourdough is the better choice both ways, taste and health.

Kelsey’s Sourdough Pizza Crust (makes 4 medium crusts)

Saturday night, before bed: Feed your starter, then leave it on the counter overnight.

Sunday morning, upon waking: Make the dough —

• 375g filtered water
• 100g starter
• 500g unbleached organic flour
• 10g salt

Mix together and leave covered on the counter all day.

Dinner time: Flour your work space and cut the dough into 4 even pieces. We use our hands and a rolling pin to roll each one as thick or thin as everyone likes theirs, then lift and transfer each crust onto the hot stone with our pizza spatula.

Pro tip from Kelsey: use coarse cornmeal and flour on parchment paper when rolling out — it makes transferring the crust from the counter onto the hot pizza stone so much easier.

For protein, we use bison — this past winter we bought a half bison from a local farmer about a mile up the road from us, and it’s been our go-to ever since. Combined with organic toppings across the board, it turns into a meal that’s actually healthy without tasting like a compromise.

How We Cook It

The two things that make the biggest difference: get our Napoleon grill up to 550-650°F, and preheat our pizza stone to 500°F+ — that takes about 45 minutes at that temp, so it’s worth starting the stone before you even start prepping toppings. That combination is what gets you an actual crisp, blistered crust at home instead of something soggy in the middle.

We’ve been through a few pizza ovens over the years, and while they can work well, we’ve found them genuinely finicky to get right — especially the ones where the flame comes from the top. In our experience, the toppings end up burnt before the crust actually gets crispy, and you’re left with a floppy pizza instead of the crisp bite you’re after. The grill solves that problem for us: we can hold it at a very consistent temperature, and the stone gets direct bottom heat the whole time, which is what actually gives you that crisp, wood-fired crust — not just a flame blasting the top of the pizza while the bottom lags behind.

And most people already own a grill. There’s no real reason to go spend money on a fancy standalone pizza oven when the grill sitting in your backyard right now, plus a pizza stone, will likely cook a better pizza than that pizza oven would anyway. Start with what you already have.

And by the last pizza of the night, we usually go dessert — a dessert pizza is our traditional last one on the stone, and it’s just as fun to put together (and eat) as the rest of the night.

Getting Emery Involved

This is the part that makes it a real tradition and not just a dinner routine. Emery helps Kelsey make the dough the morning of — she’s at the age where she loves anything hands-on, and pizza dough might as well be a craft project to her. It’s a little messy, it takes longer than it would solo, and that’s exactly the point. It’s become one of those small, weekly memory-making moments we didn’t plan for but wouldn’t trade now.

Shop This Post

We’ve linked everything we used below so you can grab it yourself if you want to recreate this at home — Napoleon grill, pizza stone, pizza spatula, and parchment paper are all in our Sunday Night Pizza Night list on Amazon.

This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase through them, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Start Your Own Weekly Tradition

You don’t need bison or sourdough starter to make this work — the real point isn’t the pizza, it’s the weekly-ness of it. Pick one night, pick something everyone actually likes doing together, and just keep doing it. That’s it. That’s the whole trick.

To get started on your pizza night, here’s everything you need: Shop the full list on Amazon →